System and method for in-context editing

Abstract

The present invention presents a system and method editing content elements within the context of the Web page that contains the content elements. Web pages are requested from a computer serving Web pages by a client using a Web browser, the content comprising the requested page or pages being stored and managed by a database or other data store. Embedded in the requested page is a dynamic database reader (DDR), which transmits a request to a Control Program (CP) running in the server. Upon this transmission the CP queries the database for page content and returns the content to the DDR. As the requested data is received, the DDR places editorial controls in the vicinity of one or more editable content elements and passes the resultant data off to the browser to be rendered and displayed to the user. When a user wishes to modify a content element, he or she selects the editorial control associated with the element, which causes the control program to download and execute an in-context editor within an auxiliary browser window. The in-context editor displays the selected content element, controls for modifying the currently selected content element or choosing a new content element, and transactional controls to either save or cancel editorial changes. When the changes are saved, the in-context editor issues a message to the control program to update the content element in the database and refresh the Web page to display the changes. The in-context editor window closes and the user is free to edit another content element or navigate to a new Web page.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A system for editing content elements, the system comprising: 
 a database to store the content elements;    a control program providing a set of APIs to manipulate the content elements stored in the database;    a dynamic database reader operative to obtain content from the database by means of the APIs provided by the control program and further operative to insert editorial controls associated with the content elements;    an in-context editor operative to display a selected content element and allow a user to modify the selected content element through the use of the editorial controls inserted by the dynamic database reader.    
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the control program reads content elements directly from the database in response to a page request.  
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the control program transmits formatted data for rendering by a browser.  
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the dynamic database is operative to instantiate an in-context editor capable of displaying and modifying the selected content element.  
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the control program is operative to receive a command to replace the selected content element in the database.  
     
     
         6 . A method of editing content elements, the method comprising: 
 requesting a Web page, the Web page comprising the content elements stored and managed by a database;    modifying the requested Web page to associate editorial controls with content elements, the editorial controls placed in the proximity of the content elements;    selecting an editorial control to generate an in-context editor, the in-context editor operative to modify the content element associated with the selected editorial control.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein requesting a Web page is performed using a Web browser.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6  comprising downloading the in-context editor from a server.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the step of selecting is operative to load the in-context editor in an auxiliary browser window, allowing content to be viewed on the Web page and the in-context editor.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , the method comprising: 
 modifying the content element through the in-context editor;    issuing a command to the database to replace the content element with the modified content element.    issuing a refresh command to a browser to reload the Web page.